A Day in the Undeath
by cheri1
Summary: TenRose. Sequel and companion piece to Endless Night. The Doctor is now a vampire. A little vignette showing a day in the death of our favorite undead Time Lord. One Shot.


A/N: Okay, this is a little companion piece to my two vampire stories, The Blood Red Rose and Endless Night. It is a little slice of life vignette showing some of the things that happen between Rose and the vampire Doctor. If you haven't read the other two stories, you might want to do that now, especially Endless Night, since this story refers to events in it.

Rose yawned and walked over to the kitchen table with milk and a bowl of cornflakes. It had been nearly a fortnight since the Doctor had defeated Lucius and the other vampires and she was still getting adjusted to life with him being undead.

She poured a bit of her milk on the cornflakes and began to eat them, looking at the cereal box while she did. She was reading something on the back about staying healthy with a good bowl of cornflakes in the morning when she suddenly heard something rolling across the kitchen floor. She lowered the box and groaned when she saw the Doctor walking over to the kitchen table pulling an IV pole behind him. Right after they had left Jack and his team behind, the Doctor had taken her to the planet Haemotolia, which had a large population of blood drinking snow-white scary looking aliens. Much to her relief, the Doctor informed her that the blood was artificially made, manufactured in huge factories and highly nutritious. After negotiating with the Haemotolian chief, a man with skin so white, it was almost translucent, the Doctor was able to secure several crates filled with IV bags. Rose stood in the TARDIS and watched several workers carry the crates to a storage room while the Doctor directed them. He then paid them, the workers left, and they were on their way again. Therefore, once a day, the Doctor pulled out an IV bag filled with the artificial blood and drank it.

Which was what he was getting ready to do right now. She stared at him, disgusted as he took a plastic cap off the end of the plastic tubing, plopped down in the chair, and stuck it in his mouth.

"Mornin' Rose," he said, keeping the tubing clasped between his teeth, "sleep well last night?"

He noticed how nauseous she looked.

"What's wrong, angel, not feeling well this morning?"

Rose sighed.

"Do you have to do that?"

The Doctor frowned.

"What?"

"That!" Rose said, gesturing to the IV bag.

He looked up at it and looked back at her.

"What? I'm hungry."

"And I'm eating cornflakes!"

"Yeah, that's why I decided to come in here and eat with you. I really don't fancy eating alone."

Rose shook her head. She tried to eat her cornflakes, but her eyes kept going to the blood-filled tubing and the contented expression the Doctor had on his face while he sucked the liquid down his throat. She looked at the blood and then at the milk and soggy cornflakes and felt like she was going to puke.

The Doctor stared at her when she laid the spoon into her bowl with a clatter and got up from the seat.

"Finished eating already?"

"Yes, now I am."

She put her bowl and glass in the sink.

"I'll be in the den," she said to the Doctor, as she walked past him.

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Rose was watching some weird game show she had found on some cable channel that broadcasted from God knew where in the universe. As she watched, she saw some movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked over to the door and noticed the Doctor was coming inside the room, floating halfway up in the air, upside down. He floated over to her, giving her a warm smile. He stopped directly in front of her face and gave her an upside down wave.

"Hello," he said, cheerfully.

He floated past her. Rose turned in her seat and watched while the Doctor floated upside down around the room.

"I take it, you're bored," Rose said, dryly.

"Extremely."

"I thought you were wanting to find a cure for all of this."

"I am, but who knows how long that will take. In the meantime, I might as well make the most of my situation and keep my abilities at their peak."

Rose nodded. She turned back in her seat and went back to her program. It was intriguing. Sort of an alien obstacle course that contestants had to get through without dying. The winner got to live, along with a small packet of purple colored pills that according to the host brought instant rejuvenation to your body. Considering the amount of injuries some of the creatures had after going through the gauntlet, she could see why they would offer that as a prize.

She was so engrossed in the program that she didn't feel the weird sensation at first. It felt like something was on the top of her head. Frowning, she reached up and grabbed the Doctor's nose.

"Oi, stop it, I'm trying to watch Menacing Maze Madness with ya!"

Rose sighed.

"Doctor, get your head off my head."

"But, it's comfy up here. Your hair is so soft."

"NOW!"

The Doctor muttered, as he floated towards the TV. He went up slightly, turned his body around until it was upright and then landed lightly on the floor.

"Just playing around, Rose. You don't need to get so hostile towards me," he said, walking over and sitting down.

"I'm sorry; it's just that it's weird enough watching you float around without you being upside down on top of my head."

"Well, think of it this way, at least I'm kidding around with you and not trying to drain every drop of blood from your body."

"Yes, thank God."

They watched the show in silence.

"Hey, Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you really want to watch this?"

"It'll do, I guess, why?"

He smiled at her.

"How about you and I have a little vampire film festival this afternoon? I could use a laugh."

"Um, sure, that sounds pretty cool."

The Doctor beamed.

"Fantastic, I have several movies to choose from. Hold on, I'll be right back."

He ran out of the room and returned a few moments later with a small stack of DVD's in his hands.

"Used to do this with Lucius and my other so-called mates," he said, making a face, "you know, back when I wasn't all there. Used to go out hunting for some humans, drugged them, and then watched the movies while we…"

He trailed off, disgust evident on his face, as he relieved the memory. He shook his head getting rid of the unpleasant images.

"Still, we can do that now and have a laugh and improve on what we did before," he said, walking to the TV.

He sat the DVD's on the top and picked up the first one.

"Dracula with Bela Lugosi?" he asked.

"Sure, I've never seen it before."

His eyes boggled.

"Never? Oh, Rose Tyler, I pity you. It's one of the greatest horror movies of all time. You, my angel, are in for a treat!"

He put the DVD in the player, walked over and settled down beside her. He put his arm around her while she snuggled close to his body and watched the movie with him.

Rose had to admit, the Doctor was right. The movie was pretty good. She wasn't fond of black and white movies, but Bela Lugosi was mesmerizing as Dracula. She watched while Dracula in bat form flew around Mina Harker while she was sitting out on a balcony. She giggled when she spoke to the bat, obviously under the vampire's influence.

"What?" the Doctor said, amused.

"It's too bad you can't change into a bat."

"Why, you want a great big flying rodent flapping around your head, do you?"

"I'd just like to see you become one."

"Well, sorry, that's one of the many things mortals got wrong about my kind."

"Cor, listen to you. _Your_ kind."

"Well, vampires are my kind, for the moment," the Doctor replied, shrugging.

Rose had a thought. She leaned over and looked directly into his eyes.

"Um, Rose, I realize that it's been said that the eyes are a window into the soul, but they are not a window into the telly, would you please move?"

Rose leaned back.

"So, you can't hypnotize anyone with your piercing eyes then?"

The Doctor turned his head and looked at her.

"Rose, you do realize that this is a movie, not real life?" he said, gesturing to the TV.

"Yes, but there are some things in the movie that you can do like drink blood."

"Yes, but I don't have the ability to take one look at you and just have you instantly fall under my power. Now, I can hypnotize you by other means and get pretty much the same effect, but if I could do what Dracula is doing, you would be enslaved each time I looked your way."

"Well, the vampire brides are real, yeah? I mean, that's what you were trying to do to me when I was in your office in Canary Wharf, right?"

The Doctor grimaced at the memory.

"Um…yeah," he said, softly.

He quickly brightened, trying to hide the discomfort he still felt at how close he had come to converting Rose.

"Still, you wouldn't have worn anything remotely like those women wore. You would have worn pretty much the same outfit you wore to Wembley. No long, white shapeless gown and Morticia Addams makeup for you, I wouldn't have stood for it, especially when you and I made love. I don't wanna lie in bed and watch this pale thing wearing a bed sheet and more makeup than Tammy Faye Baker moving towards me. It would have killed the passion then and there, urgh! No thank you. I may be undead, but even the undead have standards."

"Well, thank God for that, I don't really wanna walk around the TARDIS looking like a nightmare just for your benefit."

"Nah, no vampire in his right mind would tolerate their mate looking like a gothic monstrosity. They would have told them straight away to go and change and quit acting so silly."

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"Well, what'd ya think?" the Doctor said when the movie ended.

"I liked it. It was really well done for being a 1930's movie."

"That it was," the Doctor said, getting up to pop another movie in, "and Bela Lugosi really made the character come to life."

He paused.

"In fact, he took it a little too far. Weird chap. Visited him once. His mansion was all dark and creepy, and he insisted on showing me a coffin he kept in his guesthouse along with the cape he wore in the movie. He was typecast as a horror movie villain after Dracula came out and was never offered any serious roles, and I think that affected his mind to the point he fantasized about being Dracula, not to mention he became addicted to alcohol and drugs. He was even buried in the cape after he died. Poor fella. So much potential wasted because he couldn't escape from the long shadow Dracula threw on him."

He smiled when he noticed Rose's somber expression.

"Sorry, I'm being a downer, aren't I?" he said, apologetically, "I just hate to see someone so talented become so mired in one role that it defines his whole existence. Sad, very sad."

He quickly changed the subject, not wanting to depress Rose for the rest of the day. He sifted through the DVDs he had in his possession.

"Let's see, we have the other Dracula movie that has Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder in it, Underworld, the original and the sequel, all three Blade movies, John Carpenter's Vampires, Dracula 2000, Fright Night, Vamp, Once Bitten, From Dusk Till Dawn, Bordello of Blood, Love at First Bite--"

"Blimey, you sure got a lot of vampire movies, don't ya?"

The Doctor shrugged.

"I told ya, this is one of the things immortals like to do, get drunk and laugh at Hollywood's version of the undead. Interview with the Vampire, Queen of the Damned…Oh! Have you seen Dracula, Dead and Loving it?"

"No, I don't think I have."

"Ooo, let's watch that one. It's hilarious! It's Mel Brook's spoof of the Bela Lugosi and Keanu Reeves Dracula movies. You'll love it! We used to watch this and just laugh till we couldn't see straight. It's a dead on parody, no pun intended, of course."

He opened up the case, popped in the DVD and set back down on the couch beside Rose.

A half hour later, both the Doctor and Rose were splitting their sides laughing. In fact, Rose was laughing so hard, she was terrified she was going to pee all over the sofa and had to have the Doctor pause the movie, so she could run to the loo. Watching it was especially funny after having seen the serious Bela Lugosi movie, she was sure she wouldn't have been able to pick up on a couple of the jokes if she hadn't watched it beforehand. She wasn't a vampire, but even she could understand why they would find these movies so hilarious, even the supposedly serious ones. She groaned after Leslie Nielson made the joke about the daymare. The Doctor snickered at that.

"That's one of my favorite jokes. The whole nightmare about being out in the sunlight without anything happening and suddenly you're being fried alive and can't run anywhere. I actually knew someone who did have that dream, and you should have seen the look on his face when we showed him this scene. Oh, I wish I had a camera with me at that moment. He just couldn't believe that Hollywood actually thought of his dream before he did. It freaked him out for weeks."

"Yeah, I bet it did," Rose said, nodding.

She snuggled up close against the Doctor laughing with him at the movie. Little by little, she was slowly getting used to him being like this. At least, they could still act the way they did before, laugh, and joke even if he wasn't exactly normal now. It comforted her immensely knowing that no matter what happened to the Doctor; the man would always stay the same inside.

And so, they sat there together on the couch, watching movie after movie, laughing and poking fun at them and enjoying each other's company while the TARDIS slowly wound its way through the vortex on the way to their next adventure.

THE END

A/N: The saga of the vampire Doctor continues with the story Blood Sacrifice.


End file.
